Research

Aaron Arrendondo presenting his poster about gender differences in hockey players during on-ice graded exercise

Research in Exercise Science

John Durocher, Exercise Science, PhD student and Aaron Arredondo, Biological Sciences

Advisor: Jason Carter, PhD. Exercise Science Department Chair

Title: Gender Differences in Hockey Players during On-Ice Graded Exercise

Sponsor: Portage Health System

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether gender differences exist for the ventilatory threshold (VT), lactate threshold (LT), and max during on-ice skating in college hockey players.

Ten male and ten female division III college hockey players performed a graded exercise skating protocol until reaching volitional fatigue. The graded exercise test employed stages that were 80 seconds in duration with 30 seconds between each stage to obtain blood lactate samples. Ventilatory threshold occurred at a higher percentage of maximal heart rate (HRmax) in females than males. Females VT occurred at 77.3 ± 1.6% HRmax [mean ± S.E.] while males VT was at 72.6 ± 2.0% HRmax (p<0.02). Males and females had similar HRmax values, 191.3 ± 2.5 and 185.8 ± 2.5 beats∙min-1 respectively. Maximal oxygen uptake ( max) was significantly different across genders with males at 52.7 ± 1.3 ml∙kg-1∙min-1 and females at 40.1 ± 1.0 ml∙kg-1∙min-1 (p<0.01). In addition, VT was different across genders when measured as a percentage of max with males at 52.7 ± 3.2% and females at 67.3 ± 4.0% (p<0.02).

In contrast, LTs were similar between genders when expressed either as a percentage of HRmax or max. The LT was significantly higher than VT within each gender when expressed as heart rate or oxygen consumption.

We conclude that VT does not accurately predict LT in male or female hockey players. Additionally, competitive female hockey players have lower aerobic fitness, but a higher VT than their male counterparts.

An increased VT may be a compensatory mechanism to improve performance despite the smaller max values measured in females. Our results indicate that training programs should be designed specific to gender because aerobic fitness and VT are different depending on gender.